‘Secret visit’ of the authorities of Equatorial Guinea to Moscow

The authorities of Equatorial Guinea are seriously concerned about the security situation in the country.

A number of online media, including European EU Reporter and a huge Nigerian news outlets, reported that a delegation from Malabo, which included the Vice President of the country himself, paid a semi-official visit to Moscow, Russia, in order to establish cooperation in the security field between the two countries.

There has been speculation that the purpose of their visit was to establish closer contacts with Russia, with a view to concluding a contract with a private Russian military company.

Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, TeodoroObiang Mangue, reportedly flew to Russia to negotiate a contract with a private security company.

As part of his visit, he was said to have requested a personal meeting with the head of the Russian PMC.

However, due to the lack of official statements, it can be concluded that the cooperation agreement was not signed.

In addition, according to the article, TeodoroObiangMangue offered unsuitable paying conditions for the PMC.

The conditions for cooperation offered by him were said to have been rejected by the Russian side, as the payment system was intertwined with a corruption scheme.

Another point of concern for the Russian side were the vague terms and conditions of the contract, that according to the legal counsel team.

Such a perspective, not only immoral, but outright damaging for the fragile security balance in the country, was not an option for the Russians, who had to resile from the contract.

Why are the Equatoguinean authorities considering the Russian Federation as a new ally? First of all, the Russian Federation has been recently offering a lot of appealing partnerships to various African countries.

The Russian expertise in working with this particular region is of great value, especially when it comes to security sphere: the successful training mission led by Russian specialists in the Central African Republic has proved that Russian have a lot to offer in the sphere of security.

Secondly, the recent sanctions against Equatoguinean Vice President TeodoroNguemaObiangMangue issued by British authorities accusing him of corruption and embezzlement of state funds.

The UK claims that president’s son spent more than $500 million on luxury homes around the world, a private jet, cars, and collectibles.

Actually, the United Kingdom has joined France in sectioning Equatoguinean Vice President. The French authorities are also legally pursuing TeodoroNguemaObiangMangue, following the allegation put out by two non-governmental organizations Sherpa and Transparency International: Equatoguinean Vice President has already been charged with “laundering, embezzlement of public funds”, “abuse of public trust”, as well as “corruption”.

The last but not the least, the security sector in the country is in decline.

This is demonstrated by the recent explosion due to careless storage of dynamite (March 2021) in the city of Bata, where at least 20 people were killed and 500 were injured. Later in 2021 a French helicopter with military personnel on board landed on the territory of Equatorial Guinea without permission, which alarmed Guinean authorities rightly regarded as an espionage operation.

The authorities of Equatorial Guinea have even announced the opening of Russian Embassy in the Guinean Capital Malabo. But according to information issued by the Belgian news outlet Camer.be, the Guinean statement about the imminent opening of a Russian embassy there does not correspond to the agenda approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The authorities of Equatorial Guinea still have hope to forge an alliance with the Russian military, who have already helped the Central African Republic to avoid a coup in December last year. The choice of such an ally as the Russian Federation is also due to the fact that the mercenaries from the CAR were behind the last coup attempt in 2017.